THE LAST PICTURE

Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto Him,
Rabboni which is to say, Master.
John 20:16

Nellie Barker was the first Sunday school teacher I remember having back to probably my kindergarten years. All I ever knew her by was “Nellie Barker” because that's what my Mother and Grandmother called her. Nellie Barker had a strong English accent and that caused a lot of friendly bantering back and forth with my Scotch grandmother. Our class was in one corner of the church basement. I always looked forward to Sunday mornings in Nellie Barker's class. I'm sorry to say that I don't remember much of what she taught, but at the time, her teaching was meaningful. There was one way Nellie Barker taught me that I didn't realize until I was an adult.

Nellie Barker received pictures of Bible stories and scenes for the classroom. They were probably 15x10...good sized pictures. She would attach them to the wall and they sometimes surrounded us at least on three of our four walls. There were all of the usual pictures...Jonah in the whale, Adam and Eve sharing an apple, Moses on the mount getting the commandments, and then we came to the New Testament. There we saw Jesus as a baby in a manger, talking to the elders in the temple, blessing the little children, and then there was THE one I didn't like...Jesus on a cross. I remember sometimes looking at that picture and wondering how that could have happened to someone who was such a nice man. I was saved from further thoughts on that by the last picture of Jesus standing in front of a place where there was a huge round rock behind Him that had been moved away from a doorway. He stood with arms out...a hole in each hand...talking to some ladies who were on the ground. I'm sure they were all happy, but I didn't see any smiles. I often wondered why pictures didn't show Jesus smiling because He seemed to me to be a happy person.

Nellie Barker will never know how her Sunday school pictures influenced the mind and yes, heart of a little girl. I often have thought back to that room, that English accent and those pictures, especially that last one. ...yes, THE last picture. That last one showed Jesus risen from the dead. However, it really isn't the last of anything where Jesus is concerned. I'm more in wonder in these more advanced years of how God does and has done all of His miracles and performed wonders far beyond comprehension.

So we have just finished celebrating that last picture on Nellie Barker's wall. Some folks wore new clothes to church, some even showed up for church, Easter eggs were hunted by children all over our country and choirs presented their Easter cantatas. But guess what, that last picture is still on the wall of my mind. Was it all just for one day or can we continue every day of the year to sing those wonderful songs and hymns that celebrate that last picture.

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever man may say.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.

He lives! He lives!
Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life's narrow way.

Nellie Barker has been in Heaven for many years now. If she was a typical Sunday school teacher, she probably wondered at times if there was anything getting through to that group of snotty-nosed, overly energized little kids. She may at times have felt the tedium of plodding along, Sunday after Sunday doing many of the routine things Sunday school teachers do. Those of us who have taught, have felt that at times. We knew though that Nellie Barker loved us and one of the main ways I knew that was through those pictures. She didn't have to post all of them, but she did. For me, they were a touch of love from her.

In all probability, Nellie Barker hasn't received her “well done” yet because I don't think I'm the only one who came under her influence who remembers her being in our lives. Even today, in this grown up body, there is still a bit of that little girl who thinks back to that last picture of the risen Christ who within five years or so from that time would come to be my Savior. This picture in my hall of remembrance ever reminds me of my victorious Savior. It's also a picture not for just one week or Sunday, but for every single day. Thank You Jesus...and thank you Nellie Barker.

Thank You Father, for sending Your Son to die for me. Thank You, Jesus for Your love in dying on that cross for my sin that I might live in relationship with You and have the privilege of being with You in Heaven for eternity. Thank You for the victory I still see in that last picture on that Sunday school wall. In Your precious name...Amen